Amir Satvat is a leading voice in games, known for helping over 3,500 gamers find jobs through free, transparent resources. A passionate community builder, he does this alongside his role as Business Development Director at Tencent Games in North America. With nearly 20 years of experience at Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and more — and degrees from Wharton, Penn, NYU, and Boston College — Amir brings deep insight into industry trends. His mission is to make games more open and supportive for all. Through his data and dedication, Amir Satvat’s Games Community is reshaping how people access opportunity in the industry.

Leanne has been making video games for over 20 years. Starting in Indie development in the UK working on titles such as Scrabble, Risk and Magic the Gathering. After that she worked at a 3rd party publishing division in Japan for a couple of years, then returned to the UK to join Electronic Arts. It was here that Leanne married her love for cars and games by heading up multiple Need for Speed titles. Moving to Los Angeles, Leanne joined Riot Games, where she created and ran Riot Forge - Riots 3rd party development and publishing label working with external developers to create League of Legends single player story games.
Most recently Leanne was Head of External game development and publishing at Netflix where she helped create the strategy and foundations for Netflix Games. She was responsible for sourcing and running a portfolio of 150+ games, working with a variety of developers from all around the world to bring games to Netflix members. Now Leanne is heading up games at Annapurna, where she oversees publishing, development, and creative
Leanne is a passionate ambassador for Women In Game and focuses on encouraging women to join the industry and creating diversity in teams through mentorship, panels and events.

Joe is the co-founder and CEO of Timbre Games Studio based in Vancouver. With over 2 decades of experience Joe has spent time leading teams at EA Sports, Microsoft, Capcom, and prior to Timbre Games was the VP of Maxis Studios / Electronic Arts overseeing The Sims.

External Development veteran and XDS Advisory Committee member who started in the games industry as an artist. Began working with external teams at Sumo Digital in 2007, before becoming Outsource Manager; successfully guiding Sumo’s fledgling India studio into a fully integrated partner, while overseeing their rapidly expanding external development program. Took a central position at Xbox Games Studios in 2014 to support and guide their Global Studios with External Development Partnerships.

In 2024, after 10 years at Xbox he left to co-found XDS Spark with Chris Wren. A platform designed to bring service providers and buyers together while advancing and advocating for external developments exciting future.

Dave Sanderson is a 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry, holding lead roles in business and creative development across the spectrum of games, film, and television. Dave has specialized in external development since 2015 and joined the XDS Advisory Committee in 2020. In 2024, Dave joined Scopely, leading ExDev on an unannounced global title.

Juney is the XDI Operations Director at Electronic Arts, where she supports the XDI team, enabling 50+ EA franchises & central teams like FC, Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends and Frostbite through finding, signing and optimising external development engagements with uniquely diverse partners worldwide. She is also the Founder & Director of the Game Production Community, a 6.000+ member B2B game industry community of producers, project managers and leaders focused on exchanging knowledge & experiences in pursuit of sustainable, diverse, and profitable game development practices.

Nathalia joined Wildlife Studios in 2019 to create the company’s External Development team and establish its processes. Since then, she has helped grow the team, overseeing workflows, creating bridges with other internal departments, and managing 100+ partners from different game art disciplines, QA and UXR. She has worked on all the company’s live games and is now focused on helping create new games by building successful relationships with external partners.

Travis is the Senior Business Development Manager for Snowed In Studios, a Co-Development Studio part of Keywords. With 15 years of Business Development experience across a spectrum of industries, he knows what it takes to stand out and capture attention. Notable deals & partners worked with include Blizzard, Bethesda, and more.

On top of his role with Snowed In, Travis has made a commitment to help foster local game development and help bridge the gap between the creative and business side of the industry.

Maria Falcão is a Brazilian Business Development Manager with over five years of experience in the Latin American game industry, working across a wide range of projects — from AAA and AA to casual games. With a background in marketing spanning more than eight years, she transitioned into business development two years ago, where she now focuses on building real, long-term connections and fostering collaborations that drive mutual success with partners around the globe.
Over the course of her career, Maria has led cross-functional teams, mentored professionals, and helped guide the growth of creatives within the industry — a reflection of her commitment to talent development and inclusive leadership.
Maria is passionate about supporting talent in her home country and is actively involved in initiatives like Women in Games and local mentorship programs that help Brazilian creatives showcase their skills to the world.
Outside of work, you’ll likely find her immersed in The Sims or enjoying a cozy evening in Stardew Valley — games that reflect her love for creativity and storytelling.

With over 14 years of experience as game developer in the video game industry, Vladislav Osipov has built a strong reputation for overseeing the integration of external teams across multiple departments. They have collaborated extensively with engineering, art, design, and QA teams to ensure high-quality deliverables and streamline workflows. Vladislav Osipov excels at managing complex projects, fostering strong partnerships with external partners, and ensuring alignment between creative and technical goals to bring the game’s vision to life. He currently works for the ZeniMax Online Studios Team as a Lead Outsourcing Manager.

Anthony Batu is an accomplished production leader in the video game industry, currently serving as an Outsourcing Manager at ZeniMax Online Studios. With more than 10 years of experience spanning game development, external production, and quality assurance, Anthony has been instrumental in orchestrating the successful delivery of globally recognized titles. His expertise lies at the intersection of creative collaboration and operational excellence, where he leads cross-functional teams and vendor partnerships to achieve world-class gaming experiences.

Jimmy is the Outsource Development Director at Full Circle, where he helps build skate. by partnering with teams around the world. He has nearly 15 years of experience in External Development—beginning on the outsourcing side in business development, pitching studios and crafting solutions, and now booking vendors and balancing burn rates from the inside. Part producer, part diplomat, and part creative matchmaker, Jimmy thrives on bringing people together across studios, cultures, and time zones. He believes great games are built on strong partnerships—and maybe a few spreadsheets.

Alexis focuses on fostering meaningful partnerships and long-term partnerships in the games industry. As Business Development Director at GameOps, she leads global partnerships and growth strategies for the Philippines-based service provider supporting global studios through QA, Player Support, and LiveOps. As Director for Industry Development at the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, she promotes cross-border collaboration and regional capabilities. She is also the Co-founder and Executive Director of GameDev Summit, a platform designed to elevate SEA’s role in the global games ecosystem. At MEE Games, she serves as Head of BD and Strategic Partnerships, empowering Philippine indie developers through access to mentorship, funding, and strategic support.

Kate Mitchell is the Global Director of Quality Assurance at Side, bringing over 19 years of experience in game quality assurance and business development. Having worked with both developers and service providers across the industry, she now leads Side’s global QA division -- driving innovation, standardization, and team growth across 12+ international sites. Kate champions proactive testing, cross-functional collaboration, and integrating AI and automation to elevate quality standards. Her vision focuses on uniting technology and human expertise to shape the future of QA in gaming.

Daphné is Production Director at Virtuos Montréal, where she leads multi-disciplinary teams and drives co-development initiatives with top-tier global partners. With a strong background in external development and a deep understanding of creative pipelines, she brings expertise across complex projects, gameplay-oriented mandates, and art pipelines. Passionate about building efficient processes and empowering teams, she focuses on ensuring alignment, collaboration, and delivery excellence throughout every stage of development.

I have been working in external development for more than 10 years and am currently the External Development Director at EA's Full Circle Studio. I started as an asset artist for vendor studios, and after joining development teams, I focus heavily on improving communication and production practices between internal and external teams.

James Matthes is the CEO and Audio Director of Pressure Cooker Studios, a 720sqm, 20 people strong creative facility in Africa, with film credits across Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon.
His studio’s gaming work includes Manor Lords, Semblance, and Ancient Dungeon VR, with Legends of Orisha and a number of other titles currently in development.
James is passionate about elevating African creativity on the world stage and evolving the Western cinematic sound in the industry. With a strong network across continents, he is on a mission to close the gap between Africa and the world by building world-class infrastructure, fostering talent, and driving collaboration in order to build a platform for talent to flourish.

Sabrina Mah is a multidisciplinary game developer working as a Program Consultant on the Gaming team at GLAAD, a nonprofit organization harnessing the power of media to accelerate understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Her past roles in game development include QA, Production, and Narrative at studios The Coalition and Respawn Entertainment.
Sabrina utilizes her broad industry experience to improve character representation effectively within the unique challenges of game development. Whilst also acting as the Narrative Producer, she led the award-winning authenticity efforts on Catalyst, Conduit, and Alter from Apex Legends. In her free time, she studies computer science, and is currently learning C++.

Maria, Executive Producer & Co-Founder at Team from Earth
With over 10 years in game art outsourcing, Maria specializes in production setup, studio operations, and client partnerships. She has led teams on titles like Dead Space (2023), Apex Legends, Diablo IV, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, and Ready or Not.

Maria believes that passion and excellence drive progress. Through her work and mentorship, she strives to raise industry standards, foster sustainable growth, and build stronger, more collaborative creative communities.

Chris Wood is the co-founder and CEO of Tanglewood Games, a leading Unreal Engine external development studio based in his home town of Hartlepool, UK. Since 2017, Chris has grown Tanglewood Games into a world-class engineering provider, working on major titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Train Sim World 5, and Quidditch Champions.

With over two decades in the industry, Chris has consistently driven technical innovation in Unreal Engine (starting with his work on Wheelman's traffic system, 2006). He has remained uncompromising in delivering expert service, to global companies including Tencent, Sega and Avalanche Software - leading to Tanglewood Games becoming an Unreal Engine Gold Service Partner in 2025.

With a decade of expertise in both people and project management, including the last seven years at EA, Steve has extensive experience in fostering collaboration, building influence, and driving results with both direct and indirect reports. He understands the challenges of navigating diverse teams with multiple stakeholders to deliver both personal and professional results. He is excited to lead this discussion on a topic that closely impacts everyone in the external development community.

Started his career working as an artist in an Outsourcing studio in Mexico where he got the chance to work on several indie and AAA titles across different platforms and engines. Then moved to Europe where he has worked as an Producer/Outsource Manager in different development studios like Starbreeze, CD Projekt Red, IO Interactive, Avalanche Studios and now EA DICE where he is Lead External Development Artist focusing on CoDev, supporting and guiding multidisciplinary external teams to work alongside internal teams and reach project goals.

Tina Merry, game industry veteran and CEO/Co-founder of Simply Sweet Games, has made with significant past contributions at companies like Electronic Arts and King. Throughout her career, Tina led the successful launch of over two dozen AAA and mobile video games, while collaborating with globally recognized brands and organizations. Her leadership roles have involved directing diverse and distributed global teams while managing multi-million-dollar game development projects.

As a Women in Games Ambassador, compelling public speaker and certified Cultural Intelligence expert, Tina is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion within the gaming industry.